Berthoud Weekly Surveyor May 30, 2013 Page 5

The descendants of Peter Turner and Franklin Irving Davis will be part of the Ber-

thoud Historical Society’s entourage in the Berthoud Day parade. In 1883 Turner platted a new town site for Berthoud after it became evident that the town needed to be moved from the Little Thompson river bottom. F. I. Davis became Berthoud’s fi rst mayor in 1888 when he was elected to that of-fi ce by the town’s 38 voters. The men’s descendants will be the guests of the Berthoud Historical Society as that organization commemorates the town’s 125th birthday by serving as the grand marshal of the Berthoud Day Parade.

Turner caught gold fever after he crossed the plains from Iowa to Central City mining district in 1861. The 23-year-old Turner discovered the Hawkeye and Golden Eagle lodes be-fore he returned to Iowa, took a wife, and settled down to a life of farming. In 1872 the lure of gold drew Turner back to the Colorado Territory where he resumed mining in the foothills northwest of Boulder. He returned to Iowa in 1874 where he retrieved

his wife Elizabeth and sons Beverly and William. In a four-party wagon train, the Turners journeyed to Colo-rado at a time when Indian hostilities threatened safe passage.

In the spring of 1874 Turner took up his old dig-gings northwest of Boulder. When news got out that he had struck gold, a mining camp known as Sunshine sprang to life in the area. By the time Turner had named the new lodes he had discov-ered, the Emancipation and the Old Dominion, a daugh-ter named Susan Sunshine Turner was added to the family.

In 1877 Turner went back to farm-ing when he staked a homestead claim in the Little Thompson valley at a location he had heard would be intersected by the proposed Longmont to Cheyenne extension of the Colorado Central Railroad. In 1883 the original Berthoud settlement that had been nestled on the river bottom since 1877

was moved to a new town site Turner had platted on the southeast corner of his 160-acre farm.

Even though Turner was farming at Berthoud, he continued to oversee his mining claims at Sunshine. On one of his visits to the mining camp he met a Massachusetts shopkeep-er-turned-miner named Franklin Irving Davis, who had also uncovered a vein of gold. In 1886, at Turner’s urging, Davis moved his family to Berthoud where he opened a hardware store

at the northwest corner of present-day Third Street and Massachusetts Avenue. Over the next several years Turner and Davis helped develop the community in a variety of ways.

In 1888, only a matter of days after Davis was elected as Berthoud’s fi rst mayor, the hardware store that he had opened two years earlier burned to the ground. In short order the town board that was comprised of Davis and Turner; as well as John Munson, Andy Fairbairn, Frank Crane, Matt Rowan and Len Kelly, authorized the purchase of fi re-fi ghting equipment for the town’s volunteer hose team. The town’s waterworks that had been built with private contributions in 1887 was also purchased for $12,000 so it could be improved and raised to a higher standard.

Davis helped bolster Berthoud’s future when he rebuilt the hardware store that he had wisely insured before the fi re. The size of the store that

sat across the intersection from the Colorado Central depot was greatly increased to make it one of the larger mercantile stores between Denver and Cheyenne. Davis also became partners with Andy Fairbairn in the town’s lumberyard and banker Thomas Bunyan in a potato ware-house business to ensure that the community was poised for future growth.

In 1890, when there was need in Berthoud for a hotel that could serve as a base for the salesmen who com-muted by rail to towns in Northern Colorado, Turner repurchased his lots at the northeast corner of Fourth

Street and Massachusetts Avenue for the site of the Turner House hotel. Turner and members of his family managed the hotel for a few years un-til the business was fi rmly established and could be sold to new proprietors. Turner’s wife Elizabeth, or “Aunt Bet-ty,” also donated lots at the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Turner Avenue to the town’s United Brethren congregation so they would have a site to build the town’s fi rst church.

When the Berthoud Historical Society set forth to fi nd descendants of the town’s fi rst board members it

was not known that the families of the town’s founder, Peter Turner, and the town’s fi rst mayor, F. I. Davis, would become available for the celebration of the town’s 125th birthday. While every member of the town’s fi rst board can be credited with accomplishments that helped build Berthoud into a thriving business center of southern Larimer County, none more than Turner and Davis were true community build-ers. Through their descendants’ eyes, maybe they will see the thriving com-munity that they helped create 125 years ago.

A LOOK AT BERTHOUD

The historical society and Mark French are interested in obtaining and copying old photos from Berthoud’s past. Please contact Mark at 532-2147 if you have any photos you would like to share.

Turner and Davis descendants will ride in Berthoud Day parade Surveyor Columnist

Mark French

Photo courtesy of Berthoud Historical SocietyBy 1900 Berthoud was a thriving community due to the efforts of early residents like Peter Turner and F.I. Davis. The heart of town was a one-block business district that extended north from “Bank Corner” at the intersection of Third Street and Mountain Avenue.

Photo courtesy of Berthoud Historical Society

Eye on the SkyVenus and Mercury dance to-

gether in the evening sky most of the month.

About 30 minutes after the sun sets, look low along the west-northwestern horizon to fi nd the planet Venus shin-ing brilliantly at a magnitude of -3.8. Once you fi nd Venus, look above and to the left of this planet to fi nd the planet

Mercury shin-ing at a dimmer magnitude of -0.4.

For the fi rst three weeks of June, Mercury will be above and to the left of Venus. By June 15, Mercury will start approach-ing the horizon each successive night. On June 21, Mercury will be below and to the left of Venus and will disappear below the horizon by the end of the month.

On the evening of June 10, fi nd a slender crescent Moon to the left of Ve-nus and Mercury.

Throughout June, Saturn will be high in the southern sky as evening twilight ends. Saturn will have a gold-en color and will be found to the left of the bright star Spica, which has a white color to it. Both Spica and Saturn will appear to be the same brightness.

The Little Thompson Observatory is having their monthly open house event on June 21. At 7:30 p.m. Dr. Suzanne Metlay, instructor at Western Gover-nors University, will give a talk titled “Tides In & Out of the Solar System.” Imagine tides without water and see the effects of tidal forces throughout the cosmos. Tides are the result of grav-itational interactions, and they create some of the most beautiful structures in space. Telescope observing follows the talk, weather permitting. The observa-tory is at the northeast edge of Ber-thoud High School. More information can be found at www.starkids.org or by calling 970-613-7793.

The Denver Astronomical Society will be hosting its monthly open house on June 15, from 8:30 to 10 p.m., at Denver University’s (D.U.) historic Chamberlin Observatory, located near the D.U. campus at 2930 E. Warren Ave. This month the topic of discussion will be the planet Saturn. Telescope viewing through the 20-inch Alvan Clark refracting telescope will also be available, weather permitting. Call 303-871-5172 for more information.

Rocky Mountain National Park’s Astronomy in the Park program starts in June. On Friday, June 14 and 28, starting at 8:30 p.m., park visitors will be treated to an astronomy program at the Upper Beaver Meadows Trailhead. A short talk by a ranger is followed by an evening of telescope observing.

On June 21, The Story Behind the Moon and Stars will be at the Moraine Park Visitor Center starting at 8:30 p.m. This is a hands-on astronomy program with something for the entire family. Telescope viewing follows this program also. Park admission is re-quired.

A magnitude one star is about 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude two star. A magnitude zero star is about 2.5 times brighter than a magnitude one star. The Sun shines at about magnitude -26 and a Full Moon shines at about magnitude -12. The Hubble Space Telescope can look at objects that are as faint as 31st magnitude. Magni-tude numbers range from -26 through zero, then one through the largest number that current instruments can detect, which is 31.

Eye on the SkySurveyor Columnist

Mike Hotka